The Arcane Emperor

Chapter 59 Call of the Void

Chapter 59 Call of the Void

Rainer finished connecting Mira's body enchantments to her Aura Rune as another Fae joined the group. She had the same red hair and blue eyes as Mira though was significantly younger and smaller in stature. Though as a Fae, she still had lived longer than Rainer by three centuries. She wore a simple white mage's robe tied with a red belt and with a slit up her leg.

Nervously performing another example of Spirit Magic, the Fae spared another glance toward the violet glowing [Archon] before finishing her spell. A small tornado of wind appeared in front of her before she quickly squashed the spell. A feat far easier than normal magic when done so as far more controlled spirit variety.

The [Archon] merely said nothing to her display, before waving her to go on with her magic. She shuddered a bit at his eyes, the magic behind them appearing to her extraordinary magical senses a bit more clearly than anyone else. She felt as if there was nothing his eyes couldn't see.

"I-I shall be casting Gift of the Giants on you now," She said.

Rainer listened to the words and watched the magical formula rapidly forming within her Mana. He also detected an additional power besides Mana that he attributed to the so-called Spirits, but concentrated on other matters.

Just like with creating a Body Enchantment for the Gift of Lightning, he required some knowledge of the Spirit Magic spell it was based on, to then later enchant Kara. Most importantly, the magical formula Fae unknowingly created when casting the spell.

Just like the Fae viewed Body Enchantment as impossible for any other than the Fae, even more so could be said about Spirit Magic. There Fae were positive anyone without the Talent for Spirit Magic could gain nothing from learning about it.

It helped that a popular fantasy story, that the Fae enjoyed, involved a Fae Mage capable of casting any magic after seeing it once. Any reality approaching such a situation made it hard to believe for most Fae, especially Court members.

The Courts still put some restrictions on their books on Spirit Magic for the [Archon] but said nothing about demonstrations. Little did they know, no number of tomes or books on Spirit Magic would help Rainer as the Fae themselves had no idea they created a Magical Formula within their Mana naturally, at least as far as their books went.

The demonstrations by the poor nervous Fae went on for hours as she repeatedly exhausted her Mana pool, only to be replaced by another Fae recruited by Mira for this. But as the most talented one here, she had no choice but to cast the more difficult Spirit Magic for the unnerving [Archon].

The spells went on, leaving Rainer's eventually bored party members to start an impromptu discussion on meditation as well as practicing it. In his focus, he missed the depressed sighs coming from Gunthar as even Kara with a high level in her meditation skill demonstrated her usual lack of theoretical knowledge on the subject.

"Mira, can you show me that weapon storing Enchantment again?" Rainer asked. As he was connecting all her enchantments to the new Aura Rune, he asked her to demonstrate some as well. On top of the recent showing of Spirit Magic and the books given earlier, there was only a single enchantment of hers that escaped his grasp.

While he certainly didn't have confidence in recreating many of her stronger and more complicated Body Enchantments without practice, he had a defined goal in sight. But when it came to the spatially related storage enchantment, he was clueless.

He repeatedly watched as two curved and enchanted axes appeared and disappeared in a flash of Magic in her hands. His focus so high, and confusion so large, he didn't even bother apprising the clearly powerful weapons.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as he activated an additional skill, [Void Detection]. And with this, he suddenly sensed a strange connection between the two enchantments on her wrists to a separate space. Quickly looking down at his own Spatial Ring, he suddenly realized that it too had that same extra space. Without the focus attention of [Arcane Sight] combined with [Void Detection], he would have never noticed this. It wasn't the Void he came to know, but a similar existence and incomparably smaller in size.

"That should be enough for today Mira. Thanks," Rainer said, before giving a goodbye to his newest Fae ally. He now had many ways of altering his [Arcane Awakening] and looked forward to learning new a Body Enchantment in-between his experiments on adding [Arcane Invigoration] and [Arcane Rage] into [Water's Gentle Touch].

But above all else, his excitement over his discovery about a small Void within his Spatial Ring and the possibilities for understanding the true nature of [Sleep Learning] space filled him. But, in the end, he still needed a solution for Akhor's Sickness and to properly practice future Body Enchantments for Kara as a priority.

He headed back to the Mansion to check on Lilia, wondering how she was doing as she got over the initial shock and adrenaline of her new situation.

As Rainer flew back with his party toward the mansion, he looked over the book he had received from Mira. The light of his flight spell providing more than enough brightness for the current night that hung over the Fae Realm.

Blood Tracking Magic

All forms of tracking magic were off-limits to Rainer. At least, in an official measure. Elru was already organizing a secret meeting with the Fae she originally used to track down Rainer when he was her target. Added on to that were the few spells given by Maya to Rainer, though the better ones were still held back until he could keep his promise.

Rainer glanced over the book as his thoughts drifted towards his family. With this, he could try to reach across the Void and find a pathway back home. He had no intention of taking that route at this time, but at the very least hoped he could use the tracking magic in tandem with [Void Detection] and [Void Seer] to see how they were doing.

Arriving a short time later at the mansion, Rainer headed toward Lilia's room. He passed by Furtak who, apart from watching the set of rooms held by Rainer's party, was talking with Laneth's Niece.

He was, of course, a bit surprised at the genuine interest shown by the Niece, before he remembered an interesting point about the Fae. To them, one's Mana could be more attractive than actual appearance. Furtak looked better than most Goblins but was still, in the end, a Goblin. An older one at that. But his Mana, which was tinged in Fire and massive in size, presented quite the interesting prospect for any Fae.

Added on was both seemed to enjoy their long conversations and chattiness and it was almost a perfect match.

He noticed a small girl sitting across from them listening to their current conversation on the Fae's habit of taking and mixing numerous customs they've found over their lengthy years. Rainer smiled a bit as he recalled the strange presence of rules for Necromancers in their political landscape. They seemed to be talking in the common language of the Northern Continent, as Lilia appeared to understand them.

Neither of the two seemed to mind the extra guest and likely spoke that language intentionally.

"Rainer, your apprentice is quite well-behaved. I'll be off for the night then?" Furtak said, though as he walked away with his Fae companion, Rainer could tell he was in a bit of a rush. He smirked at the Goblin, before waving him off. While Rainer himself didn't believe that just because you were with more than one women meant you can see more as you pleased, he understood Furtak was far closer to a King than anything else. In fact, given the general weakness of his tribe, Rainer imagined Furtak was more akin to a Demi-God amongst his fellow goblins.

The part where swords and arrows passed through as if he was a bout of Flame certainly assisted such a notion.

Lilia seemed a bit disappointed at them leaving though her mood brightened up a bit when Rainer sat next to her. The rest of his party already headed out to the Courtyard to continue a more physical discussion on Aura, Theodore too now struggling to believe Kara's abilities with how little she actually understood about them. He demanded practical demonstrations.

"So how are you liking the Fae Realm," Rainer asked.

Lilia only smiled and gave a slight nod. She could sense from her new Lord that he meant no ill will, but she couldn't help but be a little nervous. Added on was that she was originally so focused on his Soul she didn't notice how he looked up close. Were it not for the beautiful Fae she witnessed numerous times; her reaction may have been far different when she first came across this fact.

"I mentioned earlier; you are the Apprentice of an Archon. Do you know what I meant?" Rainer asked her, and after she had shaken her head, he brought out Luna to tell the legend that most in her world knew.

Lilia looked amazed at the little Fairy that seemingly appeared from nowhere, "So pretty…" She whispered and Rainer swore he saw a proud smirk on his Fairy even from behind Luna.

She did not even notice the Flames that now danced across her hands, doing away with a few of the cuts the learning chef acquired. But when it came to old scars or calluses from her time in the mine, the Flames didn't have much effect beyond reducing their size. Removing that would require either pain or time. Rainer, of course, chose the latter.

"For tonight, we'll start with something simple…learning to read," Rainer said. He could see the girl look a mixture of disappointment and shame. The former being for not yet learning anything related to magic and latter being her lack of reading ability. He didn't bother even asking if she knew how as he didn't want the girl worry that he'd suddenly abandoned her if she couldn't.

In fact, he was in general a bit at a loss how to interact with her. Their relationship was one similar between a Master and servant, even if Rainer didn't intend for it to actually be that way. Seeing the quiet girl nervous at the silence he decided to start with the teaching. He couldn't think of anything else to do but act as if they were already on friendly terms and just treat as he would his own sister.

Rainer started with the alphabet of the language most common in the Northern Continent, a leftover of their empire long since past, Imperial Standard. While having seven more letters than English, it wasn't particularly difficult to learn, having been designed for commoners to master with ease. He guessed part of this was to create a more working populace, capable of mastering their language and buying a skill from the store.

For, in the end, even a rarer class like [Chronomancer] only gave, as Rainer would see it, a pitiful skill point every three levels.

With Luna's shared language skill, he easily was able to pronounce each letter and help Lilia learn. The two continued until the green-eyed girl fell asleep leaning against the [Archon]. She had struggled to stay awake as to not displease her new Lord.

"Ah, I was hoping to introduce to Tiamat today," Rainer whispered, looking forward to her reaction to the cute little dragon, who was currently happily sitting on his head. She had left his coat shortly after Lilia had fallen asleep.

"How come Rainer never taught Luna to read," The Fairy quietly complained, squeezing in on Rainer's head with the dragonling.

"Because you can already read?"

"So?" The Fairy questioned leading to Rainer's eventual silence as he then stealthy tried to grab the Fairy. Luna fluttered, hiding behind his new apprentice, not before puffing her cheeks at him.

Out in the courtyard of Laneth's mansion, Theodore had several questions about Kara's ability to make her blades weightless.

"So how does one start the skill?"

"You cover the blades with Aura."

"And?"

"You wrap around your weapon or intended limb…"

"And?"

"And then you leverage it with your Aura…"

"And….?" Theodore asked a bit longer drawn out as to just how one simply leveraged something with their Aura.

"And…then you make them lighter?" The Wolfkin said as if that was all the explanation needed.

Theodore rubbed the bridge of his nonexistent nose, not even realizing he did not have one in his confusion. He looked over at Gunthar and swore his son was enjoying this. He recalled Gunthar's enjoyment over Elru's shock and confusion when she first joined the party and couldn't help but feel a little setup.

"How do your blades retain their sharpness?" Theodore asked hoping to find some reason within all this. Gunthar's skill that he created from Rainer's [Arcane Blade] solved many of the issues weapon users like him faced. Mainly that, even with the enchanting prowess of Nalmar, they still had to be careful when using weapons with their tier 2 strength.

But the more cladding one applied to their weapons, the less sharp they became and started approaching a blunt instrument, though even weaker in terms of effectiveness. It was a careful balance of the right amount of cladding in the right places, requiring careful usage of other Aura skills as well to be fully combat ready. Yet, Kara did not have this issue with her seemingly ordinary steel blades.

With the Aura cost of the Aura Blade skill, and its strength not reaching Rainer's [Arcane Blade], it wasn't perfect.

Kara went into an explanation on how the Aura melded with her blades and only enhanced their sharpness. Were the undead men capable of facial expressions, they would be looking at her with a mix of confusion and envy.

"But-"

"Here, I'll show you again," Kara said as she wondered if maybe it was Gunthar, her mother, and everyone else she ever met who were the strange ones when it came to Aura. She hoped to get through to Theodore.

But repeated demonstrations and further questioning took away that fleeting hopeful thought.

The undead [Holy Guardian] had also recalled a conversation with his son on whether Gunthar planned to take an Apprentice as well, given Rainer's recent acquisition. With the addition of Kara's abilities to Rainer's, he finally understood his son's request, that he misunderstood as a joke, to have the most willing yet average student possible.

Later that night, Rainer went to sleep after a usual night with Kara, though as his eyes closed he recalled her grumbling something about undead not understanding anything.

Entering the white void of [Sleep Learning], Rainer instantly formed a Demon's body in front of him. After preparing the usual amount of blood, he formed Mana Crystals by his side. He saw no reason not to improve the skills related to transferring Mana from objects given that either way his Mana was limitless within this space.

Hours passed as he tried to recreate the numerous enchantments he viewed. He alternated between trying to create them with his [Arcane Awakening] and onto the Demon corpse in front of him.

Suddenly his body started cracking as he felt a great change come over him. Just before he was about to refresh himself and start over, he noticed a message pop up in front of him.

[Skill Gained: Arcane Awakening: Might lvl 1/10]

As he stared down at his now far more muscular and longer arms, engorged with Arcane Energy, the only thing that slightly dampened his excitement was the lack of a level for [Arcane Awakening], and that he couldn't combine the Enchantment for Gift of Lightning and Gift of the Giants into one like the Fae had it.

He laid down and compared himself to the Demon corpse, and noted he grew over a foot taller. He could feel the strength surging through him as he leaped into the air. He ran back and forth a few times as he started questioning why his increased height or strength didn't feel unnatural to him.

But he immediately redirected himself back to his goal.

Resuming his normal size, he returned to his experiments now focusing on the weapon storage enchantment.

He decided to devote this entire night to Enchantments so that Kara could gain more levels and power, before going back to his study on [Water's Gentle Touch].

Next, he paid attention to an enchantment he viewed as important not only for Kara but in the future for Luna as well. The one-time use Shield Elru used to protect not only herself but her companion in the past from his [Pillar of Arcane-Fire].

Not only had he carefully looked over the enchantment on Mira, he took out the book devoted entirely to this single enchantment. Compared to anything else, this book was by far the longest among the Body Enchantment ones.

It described the numerous past uses and stories of which the Shield Enchantment known as the Fae' Savior was crucial in battle and life. All these stories combined into what not only annoyed Rainer but had confused him about Nalmar's Magic, the importance of emotion and intent. The Fae's Savior was even intentionally enchanted as slowly as possible, with Mana going to waste even, to try and bring out the feelings from its [Fae Enchanter]. It's even recommended that the enchantment was done by one who desires your safety the most.

Rainer frowned for a moment before changing his thought process. All this time he had avoided the more emotional side of Magic. But he then remembered just how he created [Arcane Blade]. While he ventured, he was already approaching level 1 of [Arcane Energy Manipulation] when creating the spell, in the end, it was almost entirely created from his own will and with some help from his newly level 10 [Arcane Bolt].

So, he suspended his disbelief and once more dived back into the recreated book. He took in the tales slowly instead of relying on his memories. Each story, he tried to think over just what each Enchanter and Enchantee felt. Whether it was a scowl or a groan, he avoided complaining about this method of using Magic until he fully understood it. He also didn't ignore the practical as he repeatedly practiced on the deceased Demon in front of him until his session in [Sleep Learning] came to an end.

Morning soon came, and he achieved a few less notable enchantments, along with a useful one to assist in flight and combat for both Kara and [Arcane Awakening], with the beginnings Fae's Savior as well. But his most sought after Spatial one escaped him the same as before.

Walking in the Fae capital, Rainer's party all stared at the various colors and the construction of its buildings. Some seemingly grown in equal part stone and wood while were others meticulously built brick by brick. Everything covered in seemingly random designs from Fae magical constructs.

Rainer suddenly looked to his left and right and realized the new member of their group was missing. Neither Theodore or Gunthar mentioned anything as they wondered if this was part of her exercise to keep up with them. Turning around, the Archon saw Lilia trying to catch her breath as the group walked on. He kneeled down in front of his would-be apprentice before speaking.

It was easy to forget the nature of his party made walking even vast distances an easy task.

"Do you want a ride?" He asked, and after a moment of surprise, she regained her usual calm. When she was picked by the Lord Magus weeks ago, she certainly hadn't expected such treatment. As it was now, she couldn't understand how to react. This wasn't how she expected to serve the Lord Magus. Just being considered his apprentice already confused her after she struggled desperately to learn to cook better, let alone being treat so familiarly and nicely.

Eventually, she nodded, not knowing what else to do in this strange situation. He helped her onto his shoulders as she let her worries fade a bit enjoying the Fae city from her new higher and less exhausting point of view.

He couldn't help but remark at how light she was for her supposed 12 years of age. A product of her life, he sadly thought. But his thoughts turned better as he realized how much of her future he had just changed. While being around him was nothing close to safe, he knew her life likely changed for the better.

He never desired to go out and perform heroic deeds. His understanding of the possibly limitless worlds out there kept him from that, among other issues. But he didn't mind providing any amount of happiness to those he cared for and those in his path. Just as he knew, if he came up with a re-usable cure for Akhor' Sickness, he'd likely try and cure every currently infected Fae, as there weren't too many compared to their population.

He glanced over to Kara for a moment as he contemplated who would discuss any issues that occurred during her age. Recalling his time with Kara he never once noted any changes in mood nor interruption in nightly activity and started in a slight panic to wonder if he alone would have to bear the burden of discussing a monthly time with his future apprentice.

Shuddering for a moment, Rainer hoped Luna's flame had somehow made this occurrence unnoticeable rather than it being a non-existent trait of the Demon or Wolfkin race. He wasn't ready for that kind of talk. Instead, looking forward to this day's events, he wondered just how the long-lived and culturally diverse Fae kept themselves entertained over their years.

"Um…Lord Magus can I-" Lilia nervously asked a question after several minutes of walking through the Fae city before Rainer interrupted.

"Rainer is my name," He said.

"Lord Magus Rainer-"

"Just Rainer."

"Master Ra-"

"Just Rainer."

She felt bothered but went with it.

"Where are we going, Rainer," She quietly asked, a bit more confident in asking such a question after he requested she call him by only his name. However, she forgot anyone bothered by such a simple question likely wouldn't be carrying her on his shoulders.

"It's a surprise."

With Laneth's aid, Rainer quickly found that a Fae had many options for entertainment in their lengthy lives. Apart from the lack of mess and emotional attachment of their method of sex they also had many possibilities with their inborn talents.

Races involving flight, plays with elaborate displays of Glamour outmatching any movies Rainer saw in his world, multiple libraries meant for casual reading and conversation from stories and books collected from all around the world, numbered among the many choices.

Right now, Rainer sat in a high up luxury seat as he watched an action adventure play that soon changed itself to what he could only view as a sappy romance. It started out as an adventure tale involving a pirate and a group of mages he rescued from a slaver. As it continued, Rainer started feeling uneasy, though he wasn't sure why as he watched the so-called Sorceress kiss the Pirate captain.

The play returned to its original form, and towards the end, Rainer couldn't help but raise his eyebrow in surprise at the final spell used by the Sorceress to defeat an evil sea monster about to kill her love. A violet wave of power erupted from her arm and destroyed it entirely.

The play ended as the two kissed on top of a piece of flotsam as the destroyed ship floated off into the distance.

He suddenly realized how similar he looked to this so-called Sorceress before finding himself uncomfortable at the earlier displayed scene and even more so at this current one as he hoped for the play to end sooner. Seeing him slink back, Kara now let her victorious grin slid after the plan she enacted with Laneth to alter the play they would see slightly. That slightly being the apperence of the main heroine and the final spell she used to save her love.

Though seeing Rainer's now grinning face as if to say pointedly, I'll have my revenge; Kara lacked her earlier jubilation, if only by a slight margin.

The curtains close and the audience clapped, along with an unexpected enthusiasm from Rainer's apprentice. He chuckled, hoping times of enjoyment could stay like this for her now. They headed back to the mansion soon after, having already eaten during the performance. Everyone looked at Rainer strangely when he brought out food for the play, but soon the living members of Rainer's party joined him oddly enjoying it.

They headed back soon after and resumed a usual routine of training, though Rainer now tried to teach his new student further to read, only to suddenly remember both the length and time such a thing took. Sure compared to Magic, it wasn't as big of a deal. But it was hardly a simple thing to teach someone to read.

Struggling through the lesson, his thoughts drifted to just how he could speed up such a method. He had some thoughts of finding a way to gain the girl skill points, but without any skill associated with Reading directly, he wasn't sure if it would help just leveling the language skill.

Maybe I can convince Maya to be her Familiar and share the language skill…Does that let you read as well?

Rainer shelved the thought away for now, as he didn't particularly wish to try and force either of the girls into such a Familiar Bond in any case.

Rainer then appraised her for the first time and noted she was little different than most of the common people of this world.

[Human, Female, Classless]

Gaining a class was not a simple affair for others as it was for Rainer. Even with her otherwise high affinity, without any Mana or Soul related skills Rainer guessed it wouldn't be any help.

"Let's take a break for now," He said toward his apprentice. He hadn't notice how quickly she was picking it up.

She nodded before following him out to the Courtyard where Gunthar and Kara were sparring, and Theodore sat in meditation. Elru was currently back at her home speaking with her father about her plan to continue her absence from home.

"Theodore, what do you think about her learning your Soul skill?" Rainer asked. In part, he wished for another lesson on the subject matter, having little else to do in reality.

Theodore had nodded before he began speaking. It took him a few tries before he could use Luna's skill to speak the language Lilia understood. The night passed, and Rainer found his new apprentice quick to sleep after the long discussion, another dinner, and watching the tireless Gunthar, and nearly tireless Kara spar.

The skill of Theodore's technically required Aura, but those with Soul Affinity naturally practiced a lesser version just by absorbing the World's Energy directly into improving their Souls. For now, Rainer saw no harm in her preparing for the future as he already planned on giving her a dose of Fairy Dust once they left here.

While before he wanted to try out methods to help anyone without a Mana Affinity gain access to their Affinity Attribute, her unexpectedly high Talent made Rainer reconsider using her as the first example of that.

Prior to going to sleep, Rainer expended his Mana adding the first layer for the speed boost Enchantment onto Kara, this primarily version only allowing for a small boost hardly useful to the already nimble Wolfkin. He could only get so far as part of his focus had to be devoted to making sure no one was close enough to see the Mana-Well in use as well as having [Arcane Awakening] up to increase his detection ranges.

Rainer felt a flame go over him as he laid on the bed. Kara moved around the room playing with her new Enchantment, far more excited at the prospect of it uses rather than its current weak form. He watched as she hopped from one foot to the other just above the ground, small bursts of magic escape from each foot as her enchantment lit up a dark blue.

He left off the Gift of the Giants for the time being, as he wanted to combine it the same way the Fae did for Kara. Otherwise, the book on it told him they couldn't be used in tandem.

He felt for his Familiar Bond with Luna and felt the small Fairy. He thought over today and understood she wasn't happy having to stay hidden once more as they enjoyed themselves. What he garnered from both their relationship and the Familiar bond increased over time.

"Don't worry Luna; it'll change soon. You won't have to hide forever, especially once we leave the Fae Realm. Once you get good enough at Glamour maybe we can put up our own story," He whispered to her and felt the Flame become slightly more comforting as she seemed to get his meaning. She finished and drifted off to sleep soon after.

He thought over too, of a proper outing with Luna before he went any further with her in human terms. To him, it didn't feel right just to use the fact she was already so attached to him, rather than give her a proper memory of it beyond being almost a prisoner, however willing she may be. He'd take both of them on a proper date sometime soon.

"Kara I've been meaning to ask…" Rainer said.

She stopped playing around with the enchantment and looked over to him.

He scratched his head a bit awkwardly before continuing, reminding himself he was a man, not a boy. Not that it seemed to help.

"Do you have a time of the month?"

"No, I only celebrate my Birthday once a year?" Kara responded with her titled.

"No I mean, once a month do you…receive mother nature's gift?"

"I have no such Druidic powers."

Rainer, red-faced, stared at her for a while before no longer able to keep her laughter in, Kara let it out. After finally finishing, she sat on the bed next to him.

"I imagine this concern is over our new party member? And while I understood what you meant, how is nature's gift a proper term?" Kara asked.

He glanced, a bit glaring, at Kara as his mind already circled how he'd get her back for getting him twice in one day and for the attempt at the Ball. He may not care for chatty Fae apart from Luna, but dancing with beautiful often scantily clad women was hardly a bad night. Though he admits to himself; he may have enjoyed it more intentionally after knowing who was behind it.

"Yeah, it's about our new addition," He responded, ignoring her second question.

"I shall handle such things. Especially after this sad attempt at asking me if I bleed every month like a human girl does," Kara said before kissing his cheek after yet another small laugh and returning to her training.

Rainer sighed as laid back down, waiting for Kara to finish having fun with her new enchantment before it was time for a different kind.

Later that night Rainer awoke early from [Sleep Learning]. Casting the tracking spell from his own Blood to find himself, had been easy enough. He practiced the spell as his progress on even just adding Arcane-Water to [Water's Gentle Touch] stalled him quite a bit.

[Blood Mana Tracking], as an only tier 2 spell, despite its possible uses, presented little difficulty for Rainer. His experience with Familiar Bonds and Mana Channels made finding the connection, even if it was technically only to himself, quite easy.

He sat at the table in the room as Luna filled in his absence in the bed by moving closer to Kara.

His thoughts moved on back to the Blood Tracking spell, which fell into his Mana spellbook. He was a bit annoyed by that, as from what he understood a Mana Affinity wasn't in the same category as Magic Affinity, meaning his [Excellent Arcane Affinity] did nothing for pure Mana based spell.

The tracking spell involved opening up a one-way connection to one's intended target, as most tracking spells designed to target a specific person did. He'd find a way to offset the Mana cost in this non-combat spell eventually, but it wasn't a priority.

Rainer held the same knife Kara used during their enchanting session, that has since been cleaned, to give his finger a small prick. Yet, given the extra effort he had to put in to get past his Constitution, it was hardly just a small prick in exertion.

The drop of blood fell onto his other waiting hand underneath it. He wasn't expecting anything near success after having just learned the spell. Tracking down those related to you only had the advice of using your intent if you wished to specify someone.

Deciding it was a good place to start dealing with intent based magic, Rainer thought of his Grandfather for a moment before switching to his younger sister, reminded in part by the quiet Lilia. He nearly laughed aloud as his sister was anything but quiet, and he isn't sure where the reminder came from, but remembering the issues with tracking himself he ventured his grandfather may give the same problems.

His Mana dropped by close to 30 points as the spell was cast, a testament to his lack of Talent when it came to Mana, and he felt no sort of connection form.

He sighed before shaking his head deciding to go back to bed, but just as he stood up, he felt a sliver of a connection. Grasping onto it, immediately he understood how vast the distance was, and yet he felt the target was familiar. Soon, he felt the connection seemingly fading. As if to bolster it, he tried to reinforcing with not only [Mana Manipulation], but his [Void Detection] and to see through it with [Void Seer],

He only hoped just to get a glimpse after so many months that seemed far longer than that.

Unknowingly his desire spoke for him, as he in the slightest way, weakened the Void to let the connection through. Above all else, he had long since grown accustomed to enhancing his spells with Manipulation skills. [Void Manipulation] among it.

Rainer had not even a moment to react as an all too familiar clawed hand grasped him, tearing through the opening far faster than any time before. He had not even a moment to react before he vanished from the room. Its occupants only just awakening to witness the scene.

Rainer's eyes opened wide to the new world around him. Soon both [Arcane Awakening] and [Arcane Invigoration] reached their maximum levels as the Runic lines across his body and the energy in his blood prepared him for battle.

And then he felt a pressure encompass his body as he thought to Tiamat and immediately activated his Shield Mode.

A clawed hand gripped tightly around his body as it squeezed him. Rainer had only a moment to glance down at the great height they were currently at before his mind went to work. He thought over any means of escaping this Devil's grasp before his rapidly cracking shield failed him, and Tiamat. The Familiar bond already allowed him to feel the struggling dragon.

Rainer did not even notice that this same [Devil King] had managed to regenerate one of his arms, but not the one consumed by Jor.

Without pause he recalled the only skill in his store left, and given the averageness of the others, he put forth a bet on the so-called skill which could bring forth his desires from the Void. This was hardly a place where a failed test would matter given the already worst case scenario.

[Void Call: Cost 10 skill points. The Void is omnipresent in its existence, always available to a Voidwalker in their purpose. Letting them reach out toward their desires.]

But in the end, this option was just one of dozens to his fast thinking mind.

His thoughts instantly went to other solutions as he prepared to shift his [Arcane Awakening] to one of his other newly acquired skill. Feeling the closeness to where he drew Arcane Energy from ever near, the moment his shield mode cracked he exploded outwards with Arcane Energy. The Devil hand expanded in pain away from the Arcane Energy that was soon followed by a hand-wielded [Arcane Blade] stabbing into him.

The clawed hand lost purchase for but an instant and the Devil's prize soared from his hand.

[Arcane Awakening: Arcanum Step]

A burst of Arcane Energy escaped Rainer's legs as Runic formula shined up and down them. Carefully making sure to guard Tiamat spot in his overcoat. He flew dozens of feet away from the [Devil King] with additional Arcane Energy. He would have never inscribed this Enchantment on Kara without having first created his own version.

The one-armed [Devil King] had stared in surprise before his mind turned to shock as he watched the massively gathering power in his target's hand. An originally ordinary [Arcane Bolt] quickly supercharged with Arcane Energy. But another surprise awaited him as Rainer's face grimaced in pain after using his newly acquired skill, [Void Call].

His entirely black eyes widened in shock as he felt the strange pulling force on his body as if part of his chest was being dragged from this world. All too familiar with this ability of the truly powerful Lords of the Void, he resisted with all his might. He calmed himself soon after, the lack of strength behind the ability reminding him just how lucky he was latching on and tracking the Soul of this fledging Void Lord seemingly hiding.

He had only a moment to prepare a defense with his Soul Language before a torrent of powerful Arcane Energy slammed against him, sending the Devil far away from Rainer as he then Void-walked a distance away.

Rainer flew in the other direction, as he looked over the new place he found himself in. Quickly, he sought to use [Arcane-Spatial Domain] only to find that the gravity around wasn't responding to his spell. Even more so as he reached out towards Luna with his Familiar Bond, he felt a distance beyond anything imaginable along with the usual time dilation he's come to expect from places such as these.

Only the lack of Spatial weakness, as well as his [Arcane-Spatial Domain]'s refusal to affect the Gravity, gave him pause as he understood he was in a far different place than before. A worry that was only partially dissuaded by the Arcane Energy in the air, amongst slight but noticeable other source of power he now felt uncomfortably entering his body in place of the World's Energy.

Rainer could only stare at the rapidly approaching ground, as he quickly converted more Mana to Arcane Power, and wonder just where the hell he was. He cast [Arcane-Wind's Ascent] a moment later.

"Do not think you'll escape me, fledging Lord of the Void," An angry roar came across the wide expanse, "Your power will be mine, and then I will be free to feast on the souls of those once beside you. I have not forgotten them anymore than I've forgotten you!"

Rainer looked across as the [Devil King] slowed his descent, a purple miasma flowing around his body. He did not react in anger as the Devil tried to coax that from him. No, such a false attempt wouldn't work in this moment. In the end, it only steeled his resolve.

Rainer knew the mistake he made, reaching out for that connection. Even if he didn't know he had used [Void Manipulation] alongside his Void skills to improve them as he did with any Magic skill and spell, he understood he screwed up. He also felt not the looseness of the space he came to expect from such worlds, but instead a strangeness leaving him wondering how he'd get back this time. Glaring at the dark gray skinned Devil across from him, he wondered if the four-horned massive beast intentionally brought him to such a place without the looseness of space as the others.

But now that didn't matter. What only mattered was seeing the persistent foe who dragged him here as no more than a corpse. Or to flee at the best opportunity. Rainer had little interest in risking Tiamat's life who was unable to guard herself with Flame like Luna could during battle.

The Human and Devil stared at one another across the large distance. A flurry of Arcane Energy rumbled around the Archon as a thrum of power denoted every [Arcane Lance] being armed and an outpour of Miasma drawn from himself and the very air surrounded the [Devil King]. From the sky a violet sun shined overhead, doing nothing to alter the darkness of the sky, and only slightly illuminated the dark gray rocky landscape.